Man on Fire
by anm078
Summary: Katniss and Peeta have been friends since they were 5 years old, after Peeta's dad dies in a tragic fire him and his family move to the seam, and Katniss' father dies in the mining accident when they are just 11, him and Katniss are forced to be the new providers for their family, fast forward 5 years and that is where the story picks up... read to find out the rest.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Peeta's Pov:

As I sit on this hill in the forest of district 12 I feel like there is nothing that could hurt me. Nothing that really matters, besides me and the ones that I love. Looking down at my pocket watch I see that it is time for me to start making my way back to the real world. Sometimes I wish that I could just build a house out here and take my family and live here. Never having to live in the cruel world that we live in now. Being able to truly protect my little brothers from all that could happen to them.

As I make my way back to the seam I pass by the old bakery, which now is just a pile of rubble. You see my family used to own that bakery until it burned down 5 years ago. The fire didn't just take away our business and our home, it also took my father. My mother had gone to pick my brothers and me from school, and when we got back the fire was already in a full blaze. Some men from the town had run in, in hopes of saving my father, but when they brought him out he was already dead. Because the bakery was completely destroyed and we had barley enough money to survive, we were not able to rebuild the bakery and were forced to move to the seam. Every time I pass by this rubble all that I can think about is just how much this world has taken from me and everyone around me, and today its about to take two more things from my district.

You see today is the reaping day, 74 years ago the nation of Panem was engulfed in a civil war and when the government, better known as the capitol, came out on top they blew up the district of rebels, which is known as district 13, and to punish the rest of the nation and make sure that no district would ever rise up against them again they created an event called the hunger games, where each year 2 children, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18, from each district would be chosen to compete in a fight to the death where only one tribute can survive. And today is the day when those to children will be chosen.

When I get back to my house I can't help but to feel extremely nervous. My little brother Rye turned 12 last week and is now eligible to have his name entered into the reaping. He is too young to have to deal with things like this; 12 year olds should not have to fear for their lives. As I stand at the entrance to my door I feel two arms wrap around my waist from behind when I turn around I see a face that I have been dying to see all morning, "Katniss" I sigh leaning in to warp my arms around her and breathing in her wonderful forest and lavender smell. "Peeta, I'm sorry I wasn't in the forest today prim had a bad dream and I stayed in to comfort her, she said that Rye was picked in the reaping and was extremely scared" I look at her understanding how she feels, I hate to seem my younger brothers scared, it haunts me every day that I cant take away that fear. "Its okay I understand I hate the fact that they are both in the reaping this year its so unfair, they shouldn't have to go through this" "I know Peeta I feel the same way but at least both their names are only in once they have little chance of being picked, speaking of which how many time is your name in the reaping this year?" she asks giving me her best answer or die look, "52" I answer not looking her in the eye "what, how did it go up so fast how much tesserae did you take this year?" I take this time to look up at her and I immediately regret it "Katinss I'm not like you I have my mom and my 3 little brothers to feed and with the tesserae amount becoming less and less I was forced to take more than last year just so that we can survive." I turn away from her and break our embrace I know she is upset, and I can't stand to see her that way. All of the sudden I feel her hand on my arm as she turns me towards her and then throws her arms around my neck and brings my lips down to meet hers, at first I am startled, but I soon relax and kiss her back.

Katniss and I have been friends since we were 5 years old and started dating when we were 14. I have always been in love with her since the first moment I laid eyes on her, she is the most amazing person that I have ever met and I hope everyday that I can spend a long and amazing life with her. Her dad died 5 years ago as well in a mining explosion a few weeks after my father passed and we were there for each other every step of the way. Recently after her dad died we started hunting together in the woods to help provide for our families, but soon it became a place for us to unwind as well and it became our sanctuary, and just a place for us to pretend that we lived in a different world.

After we stopped kissing she told me that she had to go back home and get ready for the reaping. So now I sit alone on the couch that I sleep on dressed in the nicest clothes that I have, which are just a pair of tan dress pants and a dirty button up shirt, and I'm looking at the half burned picture of my father the only thing that I have left of him, and I cant help but feel even more terrified for today that I was before, but that's short lived because 2 seconds later the justice buildings bells are ringing signaling that it is time to go.

As my family and me make it to the square in front of the justice building, feel a hand grab mine, as I turn I see Rye nervously looking around. Bending down and looking him in the eye I can tell that he has no idea what to do. "Rye its okay, all that you have to do is go and stand in that line and sign in and then go to the spot designated for your age group." Looking up at me with eyes that would make any man cry he nods and then says "I love you Pete".

After telling him that I loved him too I went and got signed in and then got into my designated spot in the 16-year-old boys section. Looking to find Rye, I find him four sections in front of me looking down at his hands, then I turn and find Katniss staring at me, I mouth that everything will be okay, but before she could do anything else Effie Trinket, steps onto the stage with a bright blue wig on and smiling like she was just told that she was voted most stylish. After the normal speech and video from the capitol she steps up to draw the names "I'm going to mix it up this year and start with the boys first" she says in her annoying capital accent, as she steps over to the boys bowl. I barley have any time to pray before she has chosen a name and is at the microphone reading it out."Rye Mellark"

At that moment my heart stops and I stand frozen in shock as Rye is being brought out of his section, and before I can even think I am out of my section and yelling Ryes name, "Rye wait!" I scream and he turns to look at me, as he does so one of the peace keepers grabs him by the hair and shoves him back towards that stage, and in two seconds I am grabbing the peace keepers arm and snapping it in two and shoving him to the ground screaming "**keep your hands off my brother**!" As I move Rye behind me I look up and yell, "**I volunteer as tribute**" and begin walking towards the stage. Ignoring Rye screaming my name I take my place next to Effie on the stage and as I look out I see Rye being placed next to my mother, crying. I turn to find Katniss with a face of complete shock, she seems to be trying to take in exactly what has happened, while also trying to stay composed. Before I know it Effie is calling out the girl tributes name "Beatrice Miller" I look and see a girl with blonde hair stepping out of the crowd I recognize her as the jewelers daughter, and while its sad all that I can do is thank God that Katniss or her sister Prims name didn't come out of that bowl.


	2. Chapter 2

Katniss' Pov:

I stand in total shock as Peeta and the other girl are being moved into the justice building, this cant be happening, I keep saying to my self. How could someone as good as Peeta be going into the games, its unfair, and now all that I can think about is how I may never see him again after today, I may never be able to hold him in my arms, kiss him, or spend the rest of my life with him. I feel a hand touch my back and I look up to see my mom and sister standing next to me, "its going to be okay Katniss" my mom says giving me a hopeful look, "yea Katniss, Peeta is the smartest person I know, if anyone from district 12 can win these games its him" Prim says as she gives me a smile.

We start making our way into the Justice building, after telling the peacekeeper that we want to see Peeta he shows us to the room where he is being held. As we step inside I see him standing by the window looking out, as he turns I cant help but feel my heart jump as I see his beautiful blue eyes, meet mine. I run up and engulf him in a hug, as I rap my arms around him, I have the need to never let go, to just freeze this moment in time forever. But much to soon I feel him letting go of me and stepping away. "You can win, you have to win" I say desperately to him "Katniss there are going to be 23 other people in there thinking the same thing how.." "You can fight and your amazing with a bow and with a sword, you have killed thousands of animals" I say as I interrupt him "Yes but that's just it those were just animals, these are people" " It's the same thing!" I scream trying to convince him that he can win. "… your right…. I'm going to win and then when I get back we can all, my family and yours, move into my victors house and live life without worrying about where we will find our next meal… I promise that I will do whatever it takes to make it back to you!" As he says this, the peacekeeper walks in and tells us its time to leave, but before we are pushed out I grab Peeta's face and kiss him like I never have before, trying to put all of my emotions into this one kiss, I'm then brutally pulled away from him and am being dragged out of the room "I love you!" I scream, and as the door shuts I hear him yell back "I love you too."


	3. Chapter 3

Peeta's Pov:

After Katniss left I had a new sense of hope, I felt like I could really win this, I had too, for my family and for hers. With this newfound revelation, I take this time to look around the room that I'm sitting in, and realize that I am sitting in the lounge room of the district 12 car. Instead of making me smile, it just irritates me, how could the capitol spend so much money on a train, but allow most of their districts to sit in squalor and die of starvation. Then again they are also the people that sit in their luxurious homes in the capitol while 24 children fight brutally to the death, so I guess that I shouldn't be surprised.

Beatrice was sitting right next to me so I decided that it would be okay to talk to her. "Hey Beatrice do you know where Haymitch is?"

"No, and don't talk to me" she says without even looking up at me. Wow I cant believe she wont even look me in the eye what is going on.

"I'm sorry do you have a problem with me?" I say turning completely towards her.

"No because I'm going to kill you and win this, im better than you and I will be going home, and I'm going to make sure that you absolutely do not."

And as if that moment couldn't get any more awkward, Haymitch stumbles in yelling something about alcohol. Ignoring him I get up and go to my room.

Three days later we are in the capitol and Effie is showing us to our floor in the training center, as we walk in I again am stunned by how frivolous everything is with the capitol, the elevator had diamonds as the wall real diamonds! As we get in Effie tells us that we are going to be meeting with our stylist.

After meeting what Effie called my prep team, and then hours of only what I can describe as torture, I finally end up in a room all-alone in only a pair of boxer shorts. Five minutes later a man with normal looking features (which seriously is amazing because most of these capitol people scare the crap out of me, earlier I saw a little girl, with no hair and green skin, I thought she was a freaking alien!) walks into the room and greets me.

"Hello, I'm so sorry for what is happening to you" he says looking at me with a completely solemn look.

"Okay…. Thanks I guess" I say not completely understanding what he means, why would a capitol citizen be sorry for me, I'm meant to be fighting for his enjoyment and yet he some how seems saddened by the fact that I have to.

"My name is Cinna and I'm here to help you make an impression, your job is to make the capitol love you and im going to help."

AN: sorry if this one is kinda short I'm just trying to get passed the usual stuff, and get to the more interesting things that really matter about the story! thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

As me and Cinna made our way down to the stables where our carriages waited, I looked down at my costume, I was shirtless with some kind of liquid rubbed on my torso and my pants were black, tight, and stretchy, Cinna called it latex. What were we supposed to be half dressed coal?

As we kept walking, Beatrice came into view, and I saw that she was wearing a full black suit and wasn't showing nearly as much skin as I was, which pissed me off, not because I wanted to see her half dressed, heck no, but because I would be the only one going out there looking like a stripper. I learned that word today when I heard my prep team talking about some place with a lot of glitter and Octavia said something about half dressed men.

Anyways, Cinna moved Beatrice and me onto the carriage and told us to stand still as he walked away to grab something. When he got back he had some kind of weird capitol candle in his hand.

"Are you afraid of fire?" he asks

"Why?" I question back afraid that he is going to try and kill me before I can even get into the arena.

"It doesn't matter we are about to go on" with this I turn around and see that all of the other carriages are moving forward towards the entrance.

As our horses start to move and we are about to leave through the entrance, Cinna shoves the candle at both of us, and in two seconds we are out of the carriage holding area and we are in the open. Looking down at myself I see that I am on fire! I start to freak out until I notice that I'm not burning, it is just fake fire. After I realize this I calm down and look up at the area around me. There are hundreds of thousands of people yelling and crying. And when they notice Beatrice and me, everyone starts screaming even louder.

When I look at the TV screen I see my self, and its amazing, I look like I am glowing and its then that I realize that Cinna is a genius.

As we get back into the holding area we get off the carriage and Cinna and Haymitch come running up to us.

"That was amazing!" I hear Haymitch yell as he pulls me into a hug.

"Truly perfect" Cinna adds.

Making our way to the training center, we see Effie waiting for us at the elevator.

"Fantastic performance! Simply beautiful I couldn't help but cry when I saw both of you! Ahh well now it is time to make our way to your living quarters! The capitol has spared no expense! And sense both of you are from district 12 you get the pent house!" Effie says as the elevator doors open and we see our floor for the first time. And she is right, they spared no expense.

After I get changed, Effie comes to tell me that its time for dinner.

When I get into the dining area, I see that Haymitch, Cinna, and Effie are already sitting down at the table.

As I sit down I see tons of food sitting on the table, so much so that it could feed the my entire district.

I am so hungry that I end up stuffing my face. When I feel that I am finally done I look up at Haymitch and give him a look that tells him that I want to talk to him.

When I get up and move to the other room, I sit down at a table. When Haymitch takes the seat across from me, I start talking immediately.

"Can you tell me how to win?" I ask

"Run… that's really all that I can say" he says with a frown.

"You won once, how?" I questioned

"I got lucky, and it lost me everything, so take my advice and just run, don't think, don't fight, just survive and if you do then you can make it out and live a good life" he says.

Then when he is about to stand up he looks at me with a look of determination and he says, "Make them love you and I will do everything I can to get you out."

"What about Beatrice?" I ask

"She's evil that one, I really don't think that she would want my help, she called me a disgusting piece of dirt, I mean doesn't she know that if she won that I would be her neighbor, not to mention the fact that I am her life line in the arena" he says this with a funny look on his face.

Haymitch has always been someone who I could count on, I used to sell him squirrels and eventually we became good acquaintances, and even though he's a drunken old man, I think that he really does care about me.

"Listen kid, I want you to know that if I can do anything to help you I will, but if for some reason you don't make it back, I will watch out for your family, and the girl's" He says this with a serious look on his face so much so that I know that he's not lying.

"Thank you Haymitch" I say giving him a smile.

"No problem kid" With this he gets up and starts walking back to the table.

I walked back to my room. When I got inside I realized that I needed a shower, bad. So as I got undressed and moved into the bathroom I looked at the shower, or what passed for a shower, but looked to me like a gas chamber. When I got in I looked around and noticed hundreds of buttons. I decided that the best way to do this was to just press one at random and when I did hot water shot me in the face from below, after choking and spitting up the water that was just forcibly shot into my mouth and going through 10 more buttons I finally found one that worked. After my shower and getting changed into some extremely soft pajamas I finally laid down on my bed and closed my eyes.

As I lay there all that I could think about was district 12 and how much I missed it. Well not it, but the people, my family, and most importantly Katniss. She is all that I can think about anymore, and I can't believe that I may never be able to see her again.

Soon enough I fall asleep with a vision of Katniss in my head.


	5. Authors Note

Hey guys just wanted to give y'all some information. First of all I wanted to make Haymitch more of a helpful character to kind of make up for the fact that Katniss isn't in the games with Peeta and I felt that he needed someone on his side. Also I don't think of Peeta as Josh Hutcherson, no offense to him I just never pictured him as Peeta. I pictured him as more of a Kellan Lutz kind of guy. Also I don't know how im going to put Gale in the story or if he even needs to be so if yall want to comment and let me know what yall think about that or anything else that yall think that i should include in the story.

Thanks! And I should have the next chapter up sometime this week.


	6. Chapter 5

Katniss's Pov:

I am shocked... Everyone is sitting in the town square watching the chariots of all the tributes go by on the TV, when district 12's came out all that I saw was red. When they came into focus and I saw Peeta clearly I almost had a heart attack, he is probably the sexist guy in the entire country, and he literally is H-O-T Hot! I get so caught up in seeing him that I almost forget that more than half the district is here too, and then it becomes awkward. And now I'm mad, no one else should be able to see him like this! Shirtless and on fire! He's mine and no one should get to see him this way. After Peeta's chariot is gone, I get up and make my way back to my house. After eating some stew with my family and avoiding all questions from my mom about Peeta's appearance on the TV I finally made my way to bed. When I finally fell asleep the only thing on my mind was a shirtless Peeta.

Peeta's Pov:

When I woke up it took me a minute to remember where I was, when I did I just wanted to sink back into my bed and pray that I would wake up back home. Sadly at that exact moment Effie was banging on my door and yelling for me to get up in her cheerful capitol accent.

After we eat breakfast, we were told to get changed into our training clothes. While we are on our way down to the training center my mind is reeling what should I do once I'm in there?

Haymitch pulls me aside before we get in.

"Hey kid, when you get in there don't show them any of your skills do you understand me."

"What why?" I ask confused

"Because the minute you do you show them what I already know, that you are the biggest threat out there, just stick to survival skills okay, they are already going to be looking at you because of your size." With this he pats me on the back and walks away.

Inside the training room it looks like what I would imagine the schoolyard in district 2 would look like. Rope courses and weapons everywhere. Everyone was gathered in the middle of the room mostly everyone stood with their tribute partner, but all of the careers stood in a circle with each other like stereotype that they are. The only one that looked like a real threat to me was this huge blonde guy, he wasn't as tall as me but he looked like he could fight and since I remember him from the district 2 reaping I know that he can fight. When I walked to the middle of the room all of the careers suddenly turned and looked at me I didn't know if it was because they were threatened by me or just sizing me up but I knew that having all of their eyes on me was not a good thing.

"Their staring because you volunteered" some girl with red hair said next to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused which is how I feel 99% of the time anymore.

"Your from district 12, but you volunteered, your huge and obviously are very strong, so they are wondering if they should be threatened by you and they realize that they probably should, but they are probably going to try and befriend you and get you to join their pack, they are all the same." With this she walks away and I realize that she's not a tribute but a teacher, my eyes follow her to the archery station where she stops and turns around staring at me again. I turn away from her quickly afraid of her gaze; does she know what I can do? How? I have never shown my skills outside of the woods so I know that the capitol couldn't have known. I try to forget about her as we all are given our instructions for the day. As I make my way around I can still feel her staring at as if she is waiting for me to come over. When I look over though I see her working with the girl from district 1, the girl obviously has no skill for shooting a bow and when she shoots she doesn't even hit the board around the target. The ladies eyes are on me again as if she is now challenging me to come over and show the girl how its really done, but I just ignore her and walk over to the knot tying station.

At the end of the day we are all back on the 12th floor and I'm so tired that I just want to curl up and fall asleep right in the living area. After I get changed and Effie forces me to sit through dinner I am finally able to go to sleep, and the minute my head hits the pillow I'm out like a light.

The next day is pretty much the same way me walking around avoiding the archery station and that lady staring me down like I'm mouse and she's a hungry snake, but as I'm learning all about how to make a fire have little smoke, I feel eyes on me. When I turn around I notice all of the careers staring at me. At first I want to just get up and call them out but I know that will only solidify me as their number one target, so instead I get up and walk over to the weights. There are a number of large round metal weights that have handles on them for carrying. After I pick up the largest one I turn and look the large blonde guy, who I learned is named Cato, in the eye and then I through the weight as hard as I could across the room and when it meet its mark, which was the far wall made of metal, it left a huge dent. With that I walked away not even bothering to look at their faces I knew what I would see.

When I get onto our floor, I got worried what would Haymitch say since it did exactly what he told me not to. Seeing no one in the common area I went straight to my room but not five minutes after I changed into something more comfortable, Effie came knocking on my door telling me that it was time for dinner.

After dinner I went back to my room and got ready for bed. When I was just about to lie down there was a knock at my door. When I went to open it I found Haymitch on the other side, the only thing going through my head was oh crap.

"Hey kid, I got something for you." He says while entering my room. Sitting on my bed I can tell that he wants to have a conversation so I take a seat next to him.

"I wanted to give you something, something that I have kept close to me for a long time." He says with a sad look on his face. He then holds up a golden pin that has some kind of bird in the middle of it.

"What is it?" I ask

"It's called a Mockingjay, I know that its kind of girly, but when I was in the games there was this girl and she, she was really important to me. She was in the games with and well she had taken this as her token, and when… when she died she gave this too me and told me that if I survived that I should hold onto it and give it to someone who means a lot to me. And well I have been a mentor for 24 years now and I have never had a tribute like you. I believe that this could be your token in the games, because not only is it a pin from someone who was a great fighter, but it also means a lot. You see the mockingjay in itself is different than other birds. The capitol created jabber-jays in the rebellion to record enemies' plans and then repeat them back to them later, well after the war they had no use for them any more so they let them all go. Eventually the jabber-jays and the mocking birds mated and out came a mockingjay. The mockingjay is more than just something that wasn't supposed to exist, it's a symbol of sorts and I hope that it gives you what you need to win." With that he puts the pin in my hand and then stands up and starts walking away.

"Wait" I say before he can get to far. "Thank you… so much you have no idea what this means to me."

He just smiles, nods his head and walks away. Leaving me to finally sit back and take in everything that he just said. After a few minutes I am asleep, but now I feel a little bit more confident than I did before.


	7. Chapter 6

Peeta's Pov:

Today's the day that we finally get to show the game makers and the sponsors what we are made of. I'm excited just to be able to hold a bow again, its one of the main things that I miss from home, just under Katniss and my family, but don't tell them that.

As me and Beatrice, who has been looking at me rather odd lately, are waiting in the seating area for our turn to go in I start to get a little bit nervous, but that is short lived because soon enough my name is called over the speakers.

When I walk into the examination room I see an area for archery right below where the game makers are seated. When I step up I notice that none of them are paying attention to me to I simply cough and try and make my presence known. "Peeta Mellark District 12" I say, and that seems to get their attention as they turn to look at me. I stand tall as I walk over to grab the bow and one arrow and then take my mark. I pull back and breathe as I let the arrow fly and the arrow hits straight through the heart just like always, I have a smile on my face when I turn to face the game makers but I notice that none of them are looking at me. They are all gathering into a circle grabbing champagne filled glasses and toasting to another Hunger Games. This pisses me off. Without thinking I grab an arrow and aim it straight at the head game makers glass and let the arrow fly. When it hits his glass I hear screams of surprise and then I see all of them turn to look at me, but I'm still pumped from before so I just bow and say thank you, and then walk out of the room.

When I get back to the 12th floor I see everyone is already gathered in the common area ready to watch the results.

I sit next to Cinna and hope that no one asks me how it went or what happened, but I knew that, that was too good to be true.

"Hey kid how did it go?" Haymitch asks as soon as I sit down.

"Fine, I shot an arrow at the target and hit it right in the heart and then I shot an arrow at the game makers, okay good night!" I say trying to run away, but as I do I hear a collective "YOU WHAT?" from the group and decide to stop moving.

"They weren't paying attention to me they were just focused on their little party that they were having and they were toasting to the games so I got mad and shot an arrow right a Seneca Crane's glass."

"Wait so what did they do when you did that?" Haymitch asks with a slight smile on his face.

"Well they finally all were paying attention to me, one guy even fell into the punch bowl, but mostly they just looked surprised."

They all laugh even Effie who I thought would have stabbed my with her designer forks for doing what I did.

"Yea I bet they were" Haymitch says laughing

"Well I guess we better see how bad they scored you since you pulled that stunt" Effie says going back to her stern self. Not five seconds later the TV came on and Ceaser Flickermen was on the screen getting ready to give out the scores. After he finally got to district 11 I noticed that no one has gotten higher than a 9, but I don't have much time to think about it because next thing I know he is giving district 12's scores "Beatrice Miller with a 7" everyone claps and tells her not bad, but then its time for my score "Peeta Mellark with an 11!" Ceaser says with a happy and surprised look on his face, "oh now I know that this years games are going to be the best no one has gotten that high of a score in years, it truly is remarkable." He says this and then the TV is off, and all of the sudden I have everyone congratulating me on a job well done. Well everyone except Haymitch, I know exactly what he is thinking, now I really am the number one target of everyone in the arena, and I going to be all that the careers care about when I get into that arena.

After we eat dinner and I get back to my room I hear a knock at my door and I know that it is Haymitch. After I open my door and he comes in, he sits down for a few minutes and just stares out the window.

"It's going to be really rough in there for you kid, now I'm not so sure that just hiding is going to be good enough. The game makers are going to force you out and get you to fight, they are going to want a show and they think that you will give it to them, so they wont be happy if all that you do is sit in a tree and kill squirrels." He sighs and stops talking for a bit, I don't bother to say anything because I know that he has more to say.

"You are going to have to fight, fight with everything you can and just hope that you pick off all of the strong ones. The everyone else will be easy."

"I cant do that Haymitch, I mean sure killing the careers will be okay for me I don't care about them, but innocent kids like that little girl from 11, no I cant do that I wouldn't be able to kill her." I say with my voice shaking.

"I know kid but you just gotta hope that someone else kills her before you have to. It's the best scenario." He says putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Anyways kid get some sleep we will talk more in my time with you tomorrow, I have to get you prepared to make the capitol love you." With that he leaves and I slip into a dream state that is even more unpredictable than the arena.

The next day I meet up with Effie first and I get 3 hours of torture involving etiquette hell and how I should stand while waiting to go on. Anyways after my torture with Effie I finally got to eat lunch and then go see Haymitch. After a few hours with him, and the two of us devising a plan to win over the capitol and to win the games I am finally sent to see Cinna and get ready for my interview with Ceaser.

After my time with my prep team, I finally get to see Cinna. When I walk in I see that he has a nice black tuxedo set up for me, and it has red lining all around it.

"Do you like it?" I hear from behind me.

"Of course it's just like me not to much but just enough, thank you Cinna." I say and then I give him a huge and get dressed and ready to go on. I'm the last one in line so I have to wait for everyone to go before I can get this over with. Once Beatrice has left the stage doing god knows what trying to win over the capitol, I feel Cinna tug my sleeve, "be prepared up there and good luck." He smiles and then runs off I'm guessing to sit in his seat. "And now the moment we have all been waiting for, well at least the moment I have been waiting for, it is the Man on Fire, district 12 tribute PEETA MELLARK!" As I hear my name and walk out I see everyone in the crowd standing up and cheering for me, was I really this well liked by the capitol? I almost makes me sick to think about them liking me, but I remember that this is exactly what I wanted to I just smile and wave and move my feet towards Ceaser. When I shake his hand and take a seat I hear him start talking "So Peeta that was some performance that you had out there, and may I say on behalf of the rest of the capitol we are soooo glad that you were shirtless and on fire that certainly was a site to see. Am I right folks?" when he asks this the entire crowds starts screaming and yelling again so I guess that's a yes.

"oh well thank you Ceaser my stylist certainly did out do himself didn't he?" I say laughing.

"oh yes he certainly did say do you happen to have any fire on you today?" he asks smiling, my first reaction is to say no, but when I see Cinna nodding his head yes I freak out. "Umm yea Ceaser I do actually" with that I stand up and suddenly there is a burst of flames around me and I'm about to freak out until it stops and completely goes away leaving me in only my red under vest, red tie and my pants. I just stand there stunned as Ceaser is clapping and freaking out with the rest of the capitol, before I know it Ceaser is leading me back to the chairs and telling me how wonderful that was. Soon though he decides to continue the rest of the conversation.

"So Peeta, we were all very moved when you volunteered for you little brother. It was very moving, but what we really want to know is, why did you do it?"

"Because I love him and I don't think that allowing my 12 year old brother to die in the games is a good thing, I knew that I would have a better chance than he would at making it out alive." I say getting mad that he would ask me such a question like it was inconceivable why a district 12 kid would want to save someone from entering the games.

"Yes, Yes I completely understand and you are a great brother for doing so, so did you leave anyone else at home, like a girl perhaps?" he asks leaning in smiling obviously wanting all the juicy secrets of my past.

"Yea I did, she… she means the world to me and I just hope that I can make it home to her… to be able to live a long and happy life with her." I say getting a little choked up. I hear a collective awe from the crowd and a frown appears on Ceasers face.

"So what did you say to them when they came to say goodbye?" he questioned

"I told them that I would try to win, so that we could all have a better life… a life without worrying where our next meal will come from, or if we will even have a next meal, a life where we can feel safe and happy. That's what I told them." I said wanting this interview to be over.

"I truly hope that happens Peeta, thank you." With that I get up to leave and the weirdest thing is going through my mind, I actually believe Ceaser.

When we get back to our floor, I hug Cinna, Effie and Haymitch, and tell them how thankful I am for what they have done and then I head back to my room to get changed for dinner. After dinner I head back to my room, but when I open my door I don't find it completely empty like I thought it would, no I find Beatrice in my bed under the covers staring at me like I'm the last drop of water in the desert.

"Beatrice what the hell are you doing in here?" I scream

"I want you Peeta, this is our last night in civilization and I want to be with you." She says sitting up, and that's when I realize that she is not dressed underneath my blankets. I turn away as quickly as possible trying to get what I just saw out of my head.

"Beatrice get out of my room I don't want you." I say as calmly as I can in hopes of getting her to leave, but all that she does is get up from the bed and walk over to me. Before I can do anything she wraps her arms around my waist and tries to get me to turn around and join her in my bed, but I try my best to get her off of me with out touching her.

"Why are you doing this I thought that you hated me, you know the whole thing on the train with you telling me that you were going to kill me and then ignoring me ever since." I say still trying to get her to let go.

"Yea, but being here with you and realizing just how big of a catch you really are, well it made me reconsider, plus this could be your last night to live and I really want to be able to tell people we did it. Ha that would really piss off Katniss too she and me never really got along and I know that y'all have a thing for each other." She says moving her hand to my chest and trying to take off my shirt, with this I finally push her away and grab a blanket and through it around her.

"Get out! And just for the record what me and Katniss have is more than just a thing and I would never break what we have just for some trash like you, now get out of my room!"

After I shove her out of my room I finally get into bed a try and fall asleep, but I know that I wont be able to, not with the thoughts of what will happen tomorrow on my mind. So all that I can do is lay here until exhaustion takes over and I pass out.

AN:That's it for this chapter! Thank you for reading I hope that I can get another chapter up soon! Also just wanted y'all to know I love Josh Hutch as Peeta I just never really pictured him as Peeta. so yea haha nothing at all against the Hutch i really do think that his personality is all Peeta just not his looks. Also if yall have any ideas on what i should do about Gale in the story please let me know!


	8. Chapter 7

After a weird night, with no sleep and that nagging feeling in my heart to tell Katniss about what happened, it was finally morning. As I get out of bed and take a shower I just stand inside and try to soak up what could be my last shower. After an hour I get out and start getting dressed, when I am ready I take a minute to just stand in my room and think. "What am I going to do?" I ask myself thinking about how in just a few short hours I will be fighting to the death against 23 other kids. I know that I want this to end as fast as possible, I don't want the Capitol getting the pleasure of watching us for weeks fighting and dying, I want it to be over quickly.

After brain storming for a little bit about what possible strategies I should take when I'm in the arena, I hear Effie knocking on the door telling me that it is time to eat, but its okay because I have a I get into the dinning room I sit next to Cinna and start slowly eating trying to keep the amazing flavor in my mind. While I'm savoring my last meal I notice that everyone is just sitting and staring at their plates, no one is talking or even looking at one another. I can tell that this is just as hard on them, watching us go to our deaths, even Effie with her cheery smile and happy Capitol voice seems to be a little more somber than I have ever seen her.

When we are done eating Haymitch, Cinna, and I make our way to the hovercraft that will be taking us to the destination of the arena. When we get off, and the Capitol has successfully shoved a tracker into my arm, we start making our way to my room. Before we go in Haymitch pulls me back and brings me to a hallway where we can talk without guards being around.

"You okay kid?" He says

"Yea just nervous." I say trying to keep my voice strong.

"I understand, do you know what you're going to do when you get in there?" He asks with such a serious tone that I wonder where the Haymitch that I have known for years went. "Yea, I do, but Haymitch when I go in there please don't judge what I have to do to get out." "I won't kid, remember I was in there once too." He says with a slight smile "I know, but this might change things in the games forever, the plan I have its… its not normal, and people may look at me differently." I say trying to not give to much away. "Wait, what do you mean kid? What are you going to do?" He asks with a panicked look on his face, but before I can give him an answer I am being pulled away by peacekeepers telling me that it is time to get ready. Giving him a wave and a smile the last thing I see of him is a worried look before the door separates us.

I look around the room and see a tube in the middle of the room. A second later Cinna enters the room with what looks to be the outfit that I'm going to be wearing, he hands it to me and I change into it. (Same outfits from the movie) When I'm done Cinna walks up and hugs me. "Your going to win, I can feel it" he says and I can tell he is trying to keep a smile on his face. I hear a voice telling me that I have 40 seconds, its now that I feel all the nerves, that have been building up over the past few days, all come at the same time and I start to feel like I cant breathe, but it is short lived because Cinna steps forward and grabs my jacket, he pulls something out of his pocket and then pins it to my jacket. When I look down I see the pin that Haymitch gave me, and I calm down a little bit. "I can do this" I say trying to convince myself more than Cinna. "Yes you can" he says and then I realize that I need to get into the tube because the voice is now saying 20 seconds.

After hugging Cinna one last time I step into the tube and just try and breathe. When it starts moving I jump a little bit. When I get to the top I just see a huge stream of white light and it takes a minute to adjust. When I can see clearly I take a second to look at my surroundings. We are all in a circle around a huge stack of weapons and backpacks. I take in everything around me and prepare myself to put my plan into motion. I look into the cornucopia and spot my bow and arrows in a quiver; I also see a sword right next to it. This is perfect and I now am just trying to concentrate on the time until we can go.

Katniss Pov: When I wake up I just lay there thinking. Today is the day, today Peeta will enter the games and I may have to watch him die. I can't push myself to get up, I don't want to live in a world without Peeta and I can't believe that he could really be gone forever today. I wish that I could do something to save him, I wish that I had volunteered for that girl that is going in there with him at least then I could have done something to protect him, but no I just sat there and allowed him to go in alone. I know that Peeta would have killed me if I had volunteered to go in, he would rather be in there alone than have me in there with him, and he probably would have given up his life to protect me, okay so maybe its better that he's in there alone.

After getting up and drugging around to get ready mother, prim and I leave to go to the square where we are required to go and watch the beginning of the games. When we get there we take seats next to Peeta's family, I can tell that they are all on edge just like me, worried that we might never see Peeta again. The large screen came on and we see Ceaser Flickermans face pop up. "Hello Panem and welcome to the beginning of the 74th HUNGER GAMES!" He says smiling "Today is the start of what I expect to be the best games we have ever seen, I for one think that these games are going to be by far the bloodiest. My favorite for the games is tribute Peeta Mellark that kid seems to be the only one going out there with the most heart and his strength sure will help." He says "and here we go the count down is starting, lets go to the arena!"

When the arena appears we see all of the tributes in a circle around the cornucopia. When I find Peeta I can't seem to look anywhere else, he looks so fierce. A voice makes me jump and I realize that its counting down. Peeta and Katniss Pov: The voice starts counting down and my heart starts beating faster. "15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10" now I'm starting to feel like I cant breathe again "9, 8, 7, 6, 5" Here we go please be ready/ I'm ready I can do this "4" please "3" oh my god "2" don't die "1" I love you…

AN: Hope yall liked this chapter i hope that i can get another up in the next week. I havent decided on what to do with Gale but i dont think that im going to put him in and if i do it might just be a little bit, but if you want me to then review! and i take any critics on my writing! Hope yall like this chapter and i promise the next one will be up soon.

Cheers!


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